


An Error in Destiny

by Jacqualine



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, No Smut, One Shot, Shirbert, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22388287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacqualine/pseuds/Jacqualine
Summary: A retelling of Anne and Gilbert, with soulmarks.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 217





	An Error in Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> I hate summaries and endings! I have taken some liberty with the dialogue, the sentiment is all the same, just left somethings out, cut for time as it were. Hope you all enjoy.
> 
> There are some notes at the end.

When she came into the world, red faced, red haired. and screaming at the cold, harsh light of the world, Anne Shirley had a small black mark on the heel of her left foot. To her mother, Bertha, it looked like a bat, and that concerned her. She was deeply religious and worried it was a bad omen. To Walter Shirley, her father, it looked like puddle of spilled ink, confident that little Anne's future would hold many scholarly and academic achievements. 

They never learned the truth, that first of her soulmarks was a small black dragon. They died when she was still a baby, so they never knew, nobody knew, she told no one, except Katie Maurice, her closet...only friend and confident. Katie was also the only one to know when three more soulmarks had made their appearance on her small frame over the next thirteen years. Anne knew what soulmarks were, images and words that appeared almost instantly or overnight, like a treasure map to your soulmate, the person you were destined to love and spend your life with. But who would love an ugly orphan like her? Everyone told her how ugly she was, with freckles, horrible, uncomely red hair and teeth too big for her mouth, she believed all the things they told her. The marks were a mistake, an error in destiny. There was no one who would love Anne Shirley.

The day Gilbert Blythe was born, he came into the world with a small bouquet of flowers, blue ones, below his left knee. No one noticed it that day though, his mother was dead, died bringing him into the world. By the time he was fifteen, he had four more soulmarks, all flowers, a sunflower behind his right ear, a spray of Baby's Breath, that wound it's way around his right forearm, a large cornflower on his chest, right above his heart, and a greenish grey, long thin leafed plant, that no one in Avonlea, or Alberta seemed to know the name of, in the center of his left palm.

People in Avonlea loved to talk about Gilbert's soulmarks, no one they knew of, had ever had all flower related soulmarks, and the speculation was rampant. His soulmate would be a gardener, or a florist or perhaps even a botanist, they all theorized. For his part, Gilbert just wished he had normal marks like other people. His dad, had a small yellow plum, a blue hair ribbon, a first place red ribbon, the word "fiddlesticks", and a plain white apron, that looked as though it were blowing in a gentle breeze. Moody had three, Charlie had one, Billy had three, he knew that the only other person in his class with more than three was Prissy Andrews and she was a year older than him, and she still only had four. Gilbert didn't mind being the center of attention when it was deserving, getting good grades, or performing well at sports, but he couldn't control the soulmarks, he couldn't answer any questions about them or his soulmate, part of him resented the idea that it was already all decided for him. That he would have no say or decision in whom he spent the rest of his life with, he would meet her and they would fall in love. Destiny was set.

"You think you can just tell lies about my sister, Dog?" Billy Andrews stood over her, she huddled on the ground, feeling the damp earth sinking its moisture into her clothes. 

"I didn't mean..." She started. 

"Hey Billy, how's it going?" She didn't hear anymore of what the boy was saying to Billy after that, just stared at the dark boy, her rescuer. She exhaled out a sigh of relief when Billy left them, and then she was alone in the woods with another strange boy, her heart still pounding in fear, already terrified of returning to school and to Mr. Phillips reaction about her gossip, she couldn't be late as well, she grabbed her things and ran off, barely registering his call "Any dragons around here you need slaying."

"No thank you." She called back, rushing to get to school, ignoring the handsome boy, following her and trying to ask her name. Finally at the schoolhouse she realized she had been rude, and silly and allowed him to open the door for her, and after entering she told him her name. She learned his by the chorus of excited voices greeting him; Gilbert.

When she learned that Ruby and the other girls were mad at her for talking to Gilbert Blythe and walking with him, she was determined to ignore him, and almost made it through the day, before he crept over to her desk, and put an apple on it, she continued to pretend he wasn't there, it was working too, until he yanked on her braid and called her the cruelest name she had ever been called. "Carrots." 

"I'm not talking to you." She roars, smashing him with her slate. 

"You just did." He quipped back, with a smirk, rubbing the side of his face. 

He spent many years of his life on a farm with an apple orchard, he had walked among the trees, heavy with apple blossoms, he was well acquainted with the blossoms, five petals, with just a blush of pink, surrounding a yellow center. He wasn't surprised to find another soul mark on his body that night, a spray of apple blossoms filling up his entire left upper arm and shoulder. He walked to his father's room and showed him the new mark. 

"That's six." He stated and Gilbert nodded. "Won't be long now."

"I think she's already here. But she hates me."

"There is a fine line between love and hate, my boy. Now tell me about this girl."

It was only later, days afterward, after she ignored Mr. Phillips and ran from the schoolhouse, after being lost in her own head for days, that she noticed a new soulmark, there on her left shoulder was a tiny red apple. 

"No...no...no...no..." She repeated over and over again. 

When Gilbert's father died, a fifth tiny cross joined the other four on her collarbone. Her heart ached for Gilbert, she knew what it was to be alone in the world. At his father's funeral, she wanted to tell him, that he wasn't alone, that she was his soulmate, but she'd blundered it, again. How did she go from trying to tell him, he wasn't alone to being lucky his father died? Watching him walking away on that cold, sunny afternoon had hurt. 

The day she met him in Charlottetown, after he had fled Avonlea, without telling a soul where he was going, when he took her for tea, and they spoke for the first time, without the pressure of Ruby and Josie and all of Avonlea watching, she found she quite liked him as a person. There was no competition here, no resentment directed at him for his easy going nature, that everyone seemed to love, just two friends clearing the air and starting fresh. She wished she had given him a chance that day, he was a kindred spirit, she felt that, more than being her soulmate, he could have been a dear friend...and now he was leaving. 

When he spelled out "Truce" she caught her breath,a shiver went down her spine and she couldn't fight the flutter in her stomach, on her ribs, under her left breast, was the word truce. And still she didn't tell him, he didn't know that the flowers on his body, the talk of Avonlea gossips, corresponded to her, she couldn't hold him back from his grief, his will to live for himself, and to find out where he belonged in this world. She had to let him go.

"Come back someday." She implored, hoping she would get a chance to really know her soulmate. 

While Gilbert was away, on a steamship, traveling the world, after the "There's Gold in Avonlea" letter but before she receives his response, a new mark appears a red rod with a red snake wrapped around it, it's on her inner elbow of her right arm . Anne knew it was a symbol of medicine, but didn't understand why it appeared. Was Gilbert sick? Would he die? She checked her collarbone daily for the appearance of a sixth tiny cross. She tells no one about her fears.

When he returns a year after leaving, with a man he calls brother, her heart, filled with hope and joy. They begin a new chapter, they are friends now, rivals, but neither speak of the soulmarks.

Anne was rejecting him, told him to post about Ruby on the take notice board, told him she didn't need him or her help getting to Charlottetown or with whatever she was planning to do there, it hurt. It made him angry, he wanted to tell her, he was her soulmate, was ready to tell her, but when she got him riled up like this, he closed himself off, maybe she would never be ready. Maybe despite her being his soulmate...she couldn't love him. Just because they were soulmates, didn't mean that they would end up together, his father hadn't married his soul mate, and John Blythe had loved his wife...until his last breath. Maybe it was time for Gilbert to move on too. Miss Winifred Rose was lovely, well mannered, well connected, a bright shining light, one that seemed equally invested in him. Her last name was Rose, maybe the flowery soulmarks were for her all along. He ignored the feeling in his heart, that this wasn't right. 

He didn't want to dance, he just wanted to study, and steal occasional looks at Anne, but Miss Stacey and Miss Lynde insisted the class know how to dance "The Dashing White Sergeant". After the first horrible attempt, he found himself in a reel with Anne, and when their hands met, and their eyes locked, the music disappeared, the others disappeared, time slowed down and there was only her. She rarely looked or interacted with him when she had a look of pure joy and happiness on her face, he felt like she was the sun, and shining just for him. He had some idea that he broke the reel, messed up the steps for the others but he didn't care, he wanted to keep her there, in his hands, in his arms. When the music stopped and they were face to face, hearts pounding, blood pumping, the silence hung heavy between them. He was about to tell her, that she was his and he was hers and they could be so happy...but she had swallowed hard and bolted, he followed, putting on his own coat and hat, walking in the same direction but different paths. On that lonely walk, he discovered a new mark, a purple rose in the palm of his right hand. He stared at his palms, the two flowers, what did they have to do with Anne? What message were they sending to him.

When he arrived at school the next day to the news that Anne had walked home with Charlie, after their magical dance, he decided that he would again ask Winnie to come to the county fair with him. 

She was drunk, she knew that well enough. She was dancing and laughing and singing, when he appeared out of the night...like a spirit. Why did he always look so dashing? He asked to speak with her, and explained how his future had been laid out before him, engagement and eventual marriage to Winifred Rose, apartment in Paris, entrance to The Sorbonne, and a successful career as a doctor. She didn't understand...

"What's holding you back?"

"Just one thing." He replied and her heart had dropped, those words had been with her for years, on her hip. She knew they were the words of her soulmate, knew that they would be important, but now that he had said them...how was she to respond? It was a dazzling future ahead of him, everything he could ever dream of, what did she have to offer? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Still she wanted to tell him that he was her soulmate, she started to tell him, but the words got tangled on her drunken tongue and then the doubts started. She couldn't hold him back, if she really cared for him, like she knew she did, she had to let him go. When the girls rushed over and demanded they recreate the Beltane celebration, she shared one last look with him, and then he melted back into the night. 

She ran, harder and faster than she ever had, her dress pulled up to allow her legs freedom of movement, knickers and stocking flashing to those who looked. She didn't care. Winifred Rose had told her she wasn't engaged to Gilbert, that he had an unrequited love. He didn't think she loved him. She was going to Avonlea and she was telling him she loved him and she was his soulmate. 

He ran as though his life depended on it, he had just a few minutes to find her, declare his undying love and make his ferry for the mainland. She loved him, had written him a letter. She loved him. The realization that she had feelings for him, gave him the speed and stamina of a thoroughbred race horse. And so he ran through the maze of streets...toward his soulmate. 

She packed her suitcase, throwing in whatever her eyes landed on, she needed to hurry, to get the next train to Avonlea, she need to get to him, she changed out of her ridiculous fancy boots and put on her well worn, comfortable boots, grabbed her bag of money and ran down the stairs. When she opened the front door she was greeted by the very last thing she could have imagined. Gilbert Blythe was running toward her. He stopped at the base of the stairs and they just stared at each other. This felt different than any other time she had stared at him. Her heart was pounding, she put down her suitcase and walked down the steps toward him. She tried to form the words, to finally tell him. Before she could, he caressed her cheek, and then kissed her.

He was kissing her. All these years, the ups and downs, the highs and lows, they had many between them, but he had always loved her. Kissing her felt right, but he had to know, he had to have confirmation. 

"Do you...truly have feelings for me?" He asked her. Her eyes were bluer than he had ever seen them, her lips opened as if to say something, instead she reached for him, drawing him in for another kiss. 

The ringing of the bell, brought him from their embrace. "I have to go."

"Where?"

"University of Toronto. I have to be there tomorrow."

"But...you just got here."

"Pen pals?" He offered kissing her hands, then pausing, there on the back of her hand was a new soulmark, a skinny leafed greyish green plant, like the one in his palm. "Anne..." He opened his palm and compared the two marks, they were identical. 

"It's you...it's always been you. My Anne with an E."

Later that night, after he had dashed off, leaving her with another head swirling kiss, and she had eagerly welcomed Diana to Blackmore house, and Matthew and Marilla had arrived with a book, from her father to her mother, complete with a beautiful portrait of her mother, Anne sat down to write Gilbert.

"Dear Gilbert,

I look like my mother. I learned this from a book that belonged to her. It's called "The Language of Flowers" Inside is a note from my father to my mother, she was a teacher, Gilbert! And a beautiful portrait of her, drawn by my father, I look so much like her. I wonder if they were soulmates, like us. The mark we share is in this book, shall I tell you about it? Xerographica Tillandsia, isn't that a mouthful? Not a very romantical name, like Wisteria, or Lady Slippers, but the description of this plant is remarkable. It doesn't need soil or roots, or water to thrive! They represent dreamers...oh and cornflowers, did you know cornflowers represent young men in love? "

Over the course of their lives together, other symbols appeared, more flowers and another tiny cross, but they always loved each other, kindred spirits chosen not just by destiny but by their own hearts.

fin

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a list of Gilbert's marks and the meaning of the flowers
> 
> Left knee - Delphinium or Larkspur, lightheartedness or vivacity  
> Right arm - Baby's Breath, everlasting love and purity  
> Heart - Cornflower, young men in love, if the colour of the flower fades, the love will too  
> Right Ear - Sunflower, warmth, dedicated love and adoration  
> Left Palm - Xerographica Tillandsia or Air Plant, dreamers  
> Left Arm - Apple Blossom, long life, fertility, love  
> Right Palm - Purple Rose, enchantment and wonder...love at first sight


End file.
